Championship Success for Newtown Boxers

Jonathan 'Joff' Flower, Lee Harding, and Dave Gibbs competed in the Welsh ABA Senior Novice Championships last weekend 14th November near Neath in South Wales

Our first champion, Jonathan 'Joff' Flower, was fighting at 75kg in the middleweight division. Slower to start in his final against an awkward Tiger Bay southpaw boxer, Joff chose to step back and pick his shots. Later on in the fight the Tiger Bay boxer felt the need to hold and tie up Joff to counter his trademark inside work. The Tiger Bay boxer was later disqualified from the competition. Despite becoming Welsh Novice Champion Joff was critical of his own overall performance, which is testament to the extremely high standards that he sets himself both in training and in the ring. There is much more to come from this exciting boxer this season.

Meanwhile Lee Harding, fighting in the under 67kg division, gave the best performance of the three boxers competing in the championships. In a tough final and working behind a sharp left jab, Lee was quick to find his range and followed up with some punishing combinations throughout the three rounds to earn his title in some style. It was edge of the seat stuff from Lee, giving a hugely impressive performance that will be remembered for some time.

Dave Gibbs, the last of the trio from Mid Wales representing Newtown at the championships and also the lightest in his division of the under 63.5kg light welterweight seniors, finally came up against a previously unbeaten 30 year-old boxer from the Gwent club in the qualifying rounds, who ironically was to later damage his hand and announce his retirement from amateur boxing! Despite losing on a points decision Dave showed sublime defensive skills but his jab and counterpunching weren't enough on the day to get the decision over the three rounds.

The club would, again, like to thank Masco tool hire for their continued support of the Club, and all other local businesses who offered their support for the boxers involved.

Congratulations to all three boxers, and well done for your hard work and dedication that will continue to lead to future successes

Sponsors Offer Much Needed Support

MASCO TOOL HIRE, a Llandrindod Wells based company, has come on board with Newtown Boxing Club donating significant funds that, with further assistance from the Sports Council, will finally enable the club to purchase a suitable boxing ring that can be used to stage future shows in the area.

Controversy & Confusion involving Newtown Boxer

On an eventful night at the Nova centre Prestatyn that also saw two boxers disqualified Luke Matthews, a junior boxer of the Newtown club, produced his best performance of his career so far. Despite his superior performance on the night Matthews suffered a highly controversial and most hotly disputed 12 - 11 point loss.

Matthews put together some powerful attacks against junior southpaw Yussaf Hussein of Audley who contributed to a well fought bout but did not possess the same punching power as his Newtown opponent.

Representing a North Wales select team against Cumbria & Lancashire Matthews found his range in the first round and, after a solid right uppercut near the end of the round, appeared to establish a lead. In the second round Hussein went on the back foot, seemingly unwilling to stand and trade against the powerful shots of Matthews. Matthews responded by putting more pressure on his opponent having some impact with his right cross leads. During the round Matthews continued to press forward and have the better of the exchanges. In the third round the more confident Matthews continued to find his range while initiating wave upon wave of attack, largely nullifying the counter punching of Hussein. Just before the final bell sounded Matthews cornered his opponent before unleashing a superb four punch combination that saw every punch rock back the head of his opponent. Matthew's final attack summed up his excellent performance on the night.

What happened next was somewhat confusing, a 12 - 11 points decision was given in favour of the Audley boxer. The decision was met with the disbelief of the North Wales boxing team and the disgust of the crowd. It was unfortunate however that the poor decision that led to such an angry reaction from the crowd detracted from the brave and game performance given by Hussein, and the excellent performance of Matthews. To add to the confusion Matthews was awarded the winner's trophy!

The decisions had been controversial all night, with coaching staff complaining to officials following several decisions both inside and outside the ring. The way that the computer scoring facility was used appeared to be at the heart of many of the problems on deciding some very dubious outcomes.

For Matthews, who had been previously selected to represent the North Wales select team, it represented an important stage in his impressive development so far this year. Already one of the most improved Newtown junior boxers, having only started fighting last year, this has demonstrated his huge potential to perform on the wider stage. Matthews is already being tipped as an exciting prospect for the future.

Flower Earns Respect of Home Crowd

Newtown's Middleweight Jon Flower fought Darren Davies of Worcester Amateur Boxing Club in front of a passionate local Worcester crowd, on Friday (18th May). Flower was quick to earn the respect of the home support by putting on one of his best displays of the season.

Davies gamely attempted to stand toe to toe with Flower in the first round, but towards the end of the round showed signs that he had felt the full force of some of Flower's powerful body shots. In the second round Flower continued to chase his opponent, picking his shots, although Davies was having some success by attempting to keep more distance and box Flower with some straighter punching and quicker combinations. In the third round Flower stepped up another gear displaying his superior form and fitness. Throughout the round Flower continued to find his range during his relentless attacks, throwing hooks to the head and body.

Despite Davies rallying impressively throughout Flower finally earned a deserved points decision.

COUNTY TIMES lets us down again

Despite assurances from Gavin, the sports reporter at the County Times, that the Newtown boxers will be afforded some regular local publicity following their impressive displays and regular performances the Newspaper has failed to feature last weeks reports.

I would like to apologise to the boxers, that did so well at the recent Shrewsbury show, for the lack of apparent interest of our local Newspaper. You deserve the highest praise for your performances, and we as a club are very proud of how well you performed, well done.

I hope that at some point in the near future we can sort out some regular feature in the County Times to celebrate the success of our very brave and hard working boxers. The culmination of such dedicated training that leads you into the ring, and earns you praise of other clubs and fighters, demands a great deal of respect, and our local press needs to hear this message loud and clear.

Mixed Bag for Newtown Boxers on Shrewsbury Show

Friday proved to be a hard night for the Newtown boxers. Only three out of the six that were initially matched on the show actually got to box. However, and despite this disappointment, the boxers who did fight performed admirably, albeit two of the three who fought were up against more experienced campaigners. Newtown boxers continue to show a determined edge and a go forward approach that brings an excitement to the ring every time they box. Even though it is late in the season, there is much more to come from this Newtown team.

REPORTS:

Louis Miskin of Newtown remains unbeaten following his Junior bout against E Morris of Worcester. During the first round both boxers tried hard to gain some advantage during the early exchanges, with Miskin getting caught with the straight jabs and left hooks of Morris. During the second round Miskin worked his way more convincingly into the fight picking his shots with more success, and working some good two and three punch combinations. During a hard fought third round Miskin found his range and continued to rally finally earning a majority points decision.

Junior Luke Matthews exploded into action during his fight with L Walsh of Droitwich. The more experienced Walsh had the better of the early exchanges and showed his strength and durability to continue to meet Matthews toe to toe. Both boxers exchanged some heavy blows throughout the fight, with Walsh gaining slightly more success with his range. Matthews threw his hooks with real intent, and on times managed to rock back the Droitwich boxer when he landed. The hard hitting Matthews finally succumbed to the more successful straighter punching of Walsh who ground out a points win.

For the second time this season senior middleweight Jonathan Flower was up against the well refined boxing skills, and experience of Gareth Dodd of Shrewsbury. Flower struggled to get inside Dodd's longer reach to establish himself in the early rounds but worked tirelessly to get into range to work the inside. Unfortunately Flower appeared to be further burdened by some questionable referee warnings. The referee, urged on by a partisan crowd, was observed by neutrals to respond, on times, more to the atmosphere of the occasion. However this should not detract from another very impressive performance by Dodd and a brave effort by Flower. Flower attempted to stage a final effort and rallied in the third round leading to an exciting finale, with Dodd finally deserving his unanimous points decision.

Following the fights Newtown head coach Steve Chapple-Gill, although full of praise for his boxers, the Shrewsbury club's usual hospitality, and good atmosphere, he was unusually perturbed by one of the refereeing officials. In particular it was evident from Joff Flower's fight that the referee set his focus on some trivialities that were not in favour of Joff's normal pitch and roll style. But Steve was also quick to point out, while complimenting and praising Joff's opponent, that his comments were only directed to isolated decisions of one particular referee.. Read his comments following the fight.................. (see comment)

NEWTOWN BOXERS CONTINUE TO IMPRESS

At last friday's Amateur Boxing Show held in Aberystwyth

The on-form junior, Calum Wilson of Newtown ABC, was up against Sam Veasey of Aberystwyth. A very hard fought contest between two hard working boxers. Veasey threw some impressive combinations while producing a gutsy performance, but found it difficult to match the cleaner punching and inside work of the more powerful Wilson. Wilson forced Veasey to take two standing counts before winning a unanimous decision.

Another Newtown boxer, Louis Miskin fought Andrew Drakely of Aberystwyth in a junior exhibition bout. A very relaxed Miskin offered the audience further glimpses of his impressive all round boxing ability while the Aberystwyth boxer performed admirably in his first bout.